When a new peripheral device is connected to another device via a universal serial bus (USB), this other device must have a device driver to operate this peripheral device. A device driver is a program enabling an operating system to recognize hardware and use it. It is considered hereinafter that this other device is suitable for accessing a wide area network, such as the Internet network. Hereinafter it is referred to as “access device”. The access device, when it does not have the device driver for the peripheral device, then tries to obtain this device driver in order to install it to operate the peripheral device.
In a local area network, such an access device is for example an access gateway, and notably enables devices located in a client site to access the wide area network. The client site is for example a company or a living environment. For a local area network, this is notably the access gateway, a set-top box TV decoder, or a mobile terminal. In the context of a home automation network, this also includes household appliances, alarm systems and sensors.
In this home automation network context, the current trend is to provide a living area that is increasingly comfortable and safe. This requires many sensors based on various technologies or protocols to be hosted in the local area network. Indeed, several technologies and protocols are capable of coexisting in the same household environment. Generally, a home automation box manages connections with the various sensors and/or devices. This home automation box can also be integrated in the network access gateway. It is understood that in this very progressive environment, it is difficult to provide a home automation box suitable for all the configurations that it is likely to have to provide. By way of illustrative example, when the user wishes to add a sensor based on a radio technology that is not offered by the home automation box, a first solution involves changing the home automation box or the access gateway. This is very restrictive and costly for the user and also for the provider of the home automation box. A second solution involves connecting a peripheral device compatible with this radio technology to an access device via a serial interface. This access device can be the access gateway or the home automation box, or any other device located in the client site. This leads to the access device becoming responsible for managing the interface driver suitable for the connected peripheral device.